


Faith

by TajaReyul



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Het, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-07 11:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TajaReyul/pseuds/TajaReyul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Audrey is called to appear before the Muggle-born Registration Commission, she hits upon a unique plan to safeguard her wand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the HP_Humpdrabbles 2013 Humpathon. The prompts were a poem 'what I know about faith' and scars. Also, not much is known about Audrey, so I made up her middle and maiden names, her parents' names and occupations, her wand's composition, her occupation and the fact that she is Muggle-born.

“You are Audrey Prudence Langsford?” The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister's voice was smug.

Audrey lifted her chin in defiance of the Dementors in the corners of the room. “I am,” she confirmed. She refused to struggle against the chains binding her. _Damn this Muggle-born Registration Act._ As an Auror, she'd been constrained more than most to register. For her pains, she'd been promptly dismissed. Within a week, she'd been commanded to appear before the Commission.

“Daughter of Ethan Langsford, an account manager and Evelyn Moss Langsford, a seamstress?”

“Well, my mum's more of a fashion designer, works for Stella McCartney.”

“Merely answer the questions, Miss Langsford. Today, when you entered the Ministry you checked a wand, ten inches, pear with a dragon heartstring core. Tell us: from which witch or wizard did you obtain this wand?”

Audrey had heard the rumours and she knew her Mediaeval and Renaissance History, the Muggle sort, well enough to know how this was going to go. Any protestations or denials on her part would not be believed and her punishment would be much harsher for them. _A lie it is, then._

“I stole it from Percy Weasley.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Yes,” Audrey replied, hanging her head as if ashamed. “We met in a teashop and really hit it off.” That much was true, although when she'd revealed she was Muggle-born, he'd made his excuses and left in a hurry. “I'd been getting by with a combination of magical devices and cleverness, but when Percy started bragging that he had not just one wand but two, I got angry. So I stole his spare one.”

“This is incredible. Fetch the younger Mr. Weasley,” the Undersecretary ordered and one of the Dementors peeled off from the rest.

Audrey hoped that the Dementor wouldn't drag Percy back to the courtroom. He'd seemed like a decent sort. Even after she'd told him she was a Muggle-born, he hadn't reacted with disgust, merely a sort of controlled panic. It hadn't been much after that that the MRA passed. He must've seen the writing on the wall and decided she wasn't worth ruining his career.

The door to the courtroom opened and Percy hurried through it, herded by the Dementor. “You sent for me, Madam Undersecretary?” His freckles stood out starkly, his voice betraying the stress of being so close to the Dementor. He glanced at Audrey, bound to her chair, and surprise ghosted quickly across his features.

“Yes, Mr. Weasley. Can you tell me what wood and core comprise your wand?”

“Hazel and phoenix feather.”

“And your second wand?”

Percy frowned. “I don't--” he broke off as Audrey shifted, making the links of her chains clink softly.

 _Put it together, Percy,_ Audrey urged silently, gaze still on the floor in feigned remorse. _Use that Head Boy brain of yours._ When they'd had their conversation in the teashop, he'd expressed interest in her wand, saying he'd never seen one made of a colour of wood that light before.

“That is, I know I'm only supposed to have one, but when I take work home in the evenings, it makes it easier to have two.”

“This Commission is not concerned with the eccentricities of a Pureblooded wizard. What wood and core, Mr. Weasley?”

“Erm, yes. Pear and dragon heartstring.”

Audrey felt her shoulders relax and she let out the breath she'd been holding.

“Do you know this Muggle?”

Percy glanced at Audrey. “Yes, we met in a teashop about a month ago.”

“Were you aware she'd stolen your wand?”

“No, I wasn't.”

“Very well. A note will be placed in your file. You may go.”

“Madam Undersecretary?”

“Yes, Mr. Weasley?”

He walked up to the platform on which the Undersecretary and her minions perched and held out his hand. “May I have my wand back? It's difficult to get my work finished in the evening without it.”

The toad-faced Undersecretary looked as if she were going to object, but Percy merely stood there, hand outstretched. She handed over Audrey's wand. He nodded and left.

Audrey barely listened as she was sentenced to Azkaban and didn't resist when two Dementors took her by the arms and carried her to a holding cell.

* * *

“Audrey Langsford?”

The stick-thin witch didn't open her eyes, move or show any sign that she'd heard Percy.

“Miss Langsford? Are you awake? I've brought your wand.” He placed the length of pear wood in her palm and closed her fingers about it, hoping he hadn't been too late.

Slowly, she lifted her head. Her long brown hair was tangled and matted, her face grey and her eyes like two piss holes in a snowbank. Percy winced as the image appeared in his mind, but however crude the phrasing, it was an apt description.

“Percy Weasley?” she croaked. “You look like hell.”

Undoubtedly she was right. He'd come here as soon as possible after the Battle of Hogwarts. “Ready to go home?”

“Yes.”

He helped her up and held her arm gently as they walked slowly out of the prison. She wept at her first sight of the sea after months in her cell.

Percy Apparated them both to the pavement outside her flat. “I got the key from your parents.” He handed it to her.

“Will you come inside?”

“I shouldn't.”

“Bugger that. I've spent months in solitary with no-one but Dementors for company.”

“All right.”

Audrey unlocked her door and disabled her security charms. She cried a few more tears. “You have no idea how good it feels to do magic again. Thank you for keeping my wand safe for me.”

“It seemed like the very least I could do.”

“No, the least you could have done was nothing. I'm going to have a shower. I have no idea what's in the icebox or the pantry. I did have some butterbeer and a partial bottle of firewhisky. You're welcome to whatever you can find.”

Percy wasn't hungry and he wasn't the type to seek solace in a bottle so he sat on Audrey's sofa and waited. Half an hour later, she came out of the toilet with a towel wrapped around her thin frame and a hairbrush in her hand. She sat down on his lap.

“Miss Langsford!”

“What? Is my bum too bony?”

“This is inappropriate.”

“Fuck that, or better yet...” She put her arms around his neck. “Percy, I need to feel something other than despair. Please.”

“I can't take advantage of you like that. Here, give me your hairbrush.”

“What?”

“I'll brush your hair instead.”

She relinquished her hairbrush and moved from his lap to the floor.

“Why didn't you run?” asked Percy.

“Beg pardon?”

“The Muggle-born Registration Act was well-publicised. Why did you register, and then stay?”

“I believe in the rule of law. How would it look if I, as an Auror, only obeyed the laws with which I agreed?”

Percy paused in his self-appointed task. “Most people wouldn't go to Azkaban for their principles.”

“I'm not most people.”

He finished brushing her hair in silence. “Did you want something to eat? If there's nothing in your pantry, I could get some take-away.”

“I'm not hungry for food, just human contact.” Audrey turned to rest her arm on his thigh and look up at him. “Can you stay a while?”

“I should get home.”

She nodded. “I should have realised. You met someone?”

“I've been staying at my parents' these past couple of days. We've had a death in the family and it makes my mum feel better to have all of us close.”

“I'm sorry for your loss. Do you...want to talk about it?”

“I wouldn't know where to begin.”

“I understand,” she said.

She didn't. She _couldn't._ Percy took a deep breath. “It was Fred that died.” With those words, the dam burst and the whole story rushed out. Audrey listened without interrupting, a look of sympathy on her face.

When he finished she said, “You should have helped yourself to my firewhisky. I can't blame you for not taking me up on my offer of a shag as I'm now shaped like a twelve-year-old boy.”

“I didn't think you were a woman who wanted to be appreciated primarily for her looks.”

“I'm not, usually, but it hurts to look in the mirror and see I don't have curves any more.”

“You still have curves. See, here,” he traced the arch of her eyebrow. “And here,” he ran his thumb over her lower lip.

Trembling, she whispered his name.

“I can't take advantage...but I really want to. Audrey, you don't need curves. You have character, and that's the sexiest thing of all.”


End file.
